


Howling Ghosts They Reappear (in Mountains that Are Stacked with Fear)

by fiveyaaas



Series: because you’ll listen [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: (Are they married or even together? No.), (but.... it’s the way he thinks that matters), Comfort Reading, Cuddling & Snuggling, Does not acknowledge season 2, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Insomnia, Past Violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Number Five | The Boy, Reading Aloud, References to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, That’s a tag???, Vanya Hargreeves Gets a Hug, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Why are tags so cute on here???, Wife Guy Number Five | The Boy, i love it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28960527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/pseuds/fiveyaaas
Summary: Three days had passed since she’d caused the end of the world, and three days had passed since he’d taken them back.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Series: because you’ll listen [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122461
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	Howling Ghosts They Reappear (in Mountains that Are Stacked with Fear)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pinacoldasprinkles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinacoldasprinkles/gifts).



> Prompt fill for Pinacoldasprinkles, who suggested- 
> 
> _“ Vanya suffering from severe insomnia. Five reads her a bedtime story... Pls and thank you 💙”_
> 
> Also, while y’all are it, check out her [ tumblr!](https://pinacoladasprinkles.tumblr.com/) I really love the fiveya edits she makes!!!

Three days had passed since she’d caused the end of the world, and three days had passed since he’d taken them back. It felt easier, somehow, to see him in a younger body when she’d landed in one too. 

“You need to sleep, you know,” he muttered. He’d learned in the past few days that if he spoke quietly enough, only she would possibly be able to hear him. “It’s not healthy to be awake for seventy two hours straight.”

As soon as they’d landed, he’d clamped his hand over her mouth, for she’d been screaming. His hand had shook, probably struggling more to hurt her when she actually resembled the person he’d been best friends with. She was pretty certain that he hadn’t tried to hurt her again because of it, but she hadn’t asked him, worried he’d snap her neck without a second thought. 

When she made no indication of hearing him, he added, “I’ll come to your room tonight, like I used to when we were kids.”

Vanya wasn’t sure if he’d said it to get a rise out of her or not, but, based on the fact that she started choking on her food, he’d have been successful if it _was_ his intent. When Grace walked forward, looking like she was ready to perform the Heimlich maneuver on Vanya, she considered asking Five to just kill her right there to save her of the embarrassment.

* * *

“This doesn’t have to be weird,” Five said, by way of greeting. 

He was wearing his Academy pajamas, and she was tempted to tell him that she had snuck out yesterday night and gotten normal clothes at a thrift shop, some in sizes that he could fit into, but she didn’t want him to know that she’d snuck out. Considering that he’d barely been comfortable with her being alone at all, he would throw a fit if he knew that she was walking outside in the dark without even telling people that she’d gone. On one hand, he’d probably be right to worry, but, on the other hand, anybody that tried to hurt her would be wrong _not_ to worry. 

“I know that you haven’t slept, and I’m not going to tolerate that. You need to sleep.”

“You’re not going to _tolerate_ that?” She scowled at him. “You’re not my father, you know.”

“That is not the point, V. Sleep is important for you, especially when a stressful event for you could—”

“Cause the end of the world?” Vanya quipped. “Do you actually care about me being upset, or do you just not want the apocalypse to happen?”

“Can’t it be both?”

Though she probably should have realized Five wouldn’t ever shy away from the truth on something like that, she was _somewhat_ surprised that he would say that so bluntly. “I suppose it can,” she mumbled, realizing that his motivation for saying the words might have been to stun her into letting him sleep beside her. 

“Now, scoot over.”

Arching a brow at her best friend dubiously, she made room for him on the bed, making her wonder if all the times before when they’d done this had felt like… _whatever_ this felt like. “Aren’t you worried that the cameras will pick up on you in my bed?”

“Did I ever worry about that when I was actually 13?”

No. The answer was no.

“What if he catches us?”

“If he does anything that I worry might upset you or cause you to lose control at all, I’ll kill him and give you his head as a trophy, so don’t worry about that.”

Vanya sighed. “I can’t tell if that is a serious offer or not, and I don’t really want to know.”

Five kissed her cheek, so quick that she wondered if her mind had just conjured it up from the insomnia she was experiencing. “Of course I would decapitate him for you,” he promised, voice chirpy. “It would be deserved, so it’ll actually be somewhat enjoyable, unlike my most recent decapitation.”

Vanya didn’t dignify that with a response. Worried that he didn’t entirely understand why she hadn’t been able to sleep, she asked, “You know that it’s because I _can’t_ sleep, right?”

“Why not?” He covered their bodies with blankets, politely not commenting when he undoubtedly noticed that she wasn’t wearing the right pajamas, probably assuming she’d gotten them when he’d been gone or something, that these had been around in the original timeline. Or he might just assume they were ones he’d gotten her in the original timeline, considering he used to get her presents after every mission, usually without any of the others even noticing. He’d claimed that it was because she deserved a gift for always patching him up, but she’d suspected it was out of his own guilt for her waiting at home for him, not sure if he would come home. 

Funny that he’d left her behind. Then again, she knew he regretted it. She could see it in the heaviness in his eyes when he watched her at breakfast, how his voice had not lost any of its old softness. 

When he pulled her tightly to his chest and started stroking her hair, she explained, trying to answer his question but not really sure if he’d want to hear it, “I keep… My mind keeps flooding itself with images of nearly hurting all of you, and I can’t bring myself to sleep when I think about it.”

He tipped her head to where she was staring at him. There was no joking in his eyes, no malice, as he told her, “I’m not afraid you’re going to hurt me, Seven.”

“Why not?”

“Well, for one thing, the fact that you can’t even sleep because the thought of hurting us keeps you up says a lot. For another, I just know that I’ve lived a very long life, and I would sacrifice it to protect our family without a moment’s hesitation.”

She stiffened. What he was implying—

“You’d risk your life, thinking that if I killed you, I’d _stop?”_

“Well, I was always your favorite, wasn’t I?” He shifted, and she realized he was holding something. Without letting her dwell on what he’d said, he changed the subject, “Would it help you to fall asleep if you were hearing my voice the entire time?”

When he lifted up a book, a small paperback edition of _Pride and Prejudice,_ she raised her brows. “Is that the same copy that you wrote that stupid note in when we were twelve?”

“It wasn’t stupid. It was romantic as hell, and you’re just hateful.”

Five flipped to the page that he’d written, in awful German (when they were younger, they’d passed notes in other languages, figuring that the others never paid attention in class and might not be able to decode them), what she was pretty sure could be loosely interpreted as a love note. (It wasn’t because he’d struggled with the language so much as if he’d written it in _any_ language, it would be a pretty peculiar way to express one’s feelings.) 

“I can’t read it,” she lied. Even if she couldn’t read it, she’d long since had it memorized, anyways. He gathered up energy in his hands, and the pages illuminated underneath them. 

Five scanned over the page, laughing at the words he’d written many years ago. “Okay, yeah, you’re right. This is pretty stupid, but it’s the thought that counts.”

Vanya lay down on his chest, and he didn’t comment, starting to stroke her hair again almost absentmindedly. He flipped to the beginning of the book, reciting, _“‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.’”_

As he continued to read, she felt her eyes start to grow heavy, leaning more fully against him. He stretched out a little as he read, apparently unbothered by the energy he was holding in his hands to be used as a book light. She wondered if he did that frequently or if it was some sort of odd way of showing off, the way him writing down grammatically incorrect German likely was. 

She could still feel herself resisting sleep, though, until he whispered quietly, “Go to sleep, Vanya. I’ve got you. I won’t let any harm come to you or our family.”

With how safe he was making her feel right now, she couldn’t find it in her to argue, just letting sleep overtake her. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!! Check out the moodboard I made for this fic [ here.](https://fiveyaaas.tumblr.com/post/641216214956441600/you-need-to-sleep-you-know-he-muttered-hed)
> 
> Suggest a prompt to go in this series [here.](https://fiveyaaas.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> Oh, btw, I also write for (or am willing to write for) the following ships, including- horrance, kliego, benkliego, alluther, benfiveya, fiveyallison, fiegoya, luego, and vanyallison!!! I’d make separate series for the prompt fills just because it’d be easier to navigate, but I encourage y’all to send prompts in for those ships too if you’d like!!! 💕💕💕


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